Sponsoring my Girlfriend via Common Law

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First, please allow me to express my thanks and gratitude to everybody in this very helpful online community.

I plan to sponsor my girlfriend via Inland Common Law in mid August 2018. I am already a citizen in BC and this will be my first time to sponsor. Fortunately, there are no issues on my side as a sponsor but I do have concerns about my girlfriend's status.

From Japan, she came to Canada mid May 2017 to stay with a 1 Year Working Holiday Visa (WHV). Our cohabitation started mid August of 2017. Mid March 2018 she will be taking a 6 months course that would allow her to Study and Work part-time by getting a 6 Months Study Permit through the school. Along with the Sponsorship application, we also plan for her to get an Open Work Permit.

Questions
1. There is an overlap of three months between her WHV and Study Permit. Her WHV allows her to work full time while the Study Permit is only for 20 hours per week. Within the three months, which status will apply for her? The WHV or Study Permit or both?

2. We will submit our application mid August 2018 and her Study Permit will end mid September. How long will it take before she can get an Open Work Permit?

3. Is it true that she would be entitled to stay after her Study Permit expires even though we have not received her Work Permit?

4. In average, how much would it cost to pay an immigration firm to process our application?

I would be glad to provide more information if needed, please do not hesitate to ask.

In advance I would like to thank anyone who can share their answers and provide advice.

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Click to ExpandClick to Collapse

First, please allow me to express my thanks and gratitude to everybody in this very helpful online community.

I plan to sponsor my girlfriend via Inland Common Law in mid August 2018. I am already a citizen in BC and this will be my first time to sponsor. Fortunately, there are no issues on my side as a sponsor but I do have concerns about my girlfriend's status.

From Japan, she came to Canada mid May 2017 to stay with a 1 Year Working Holiday Visa (WHV). Our cohabitation started mid August of 2017. Mid March 2018 she will be taking a 6 months course that would allow her to Study and Work part-time by getting a 6 Months Study Permit through the school. Along with the Sponsorship application, we also plan for her to get an Open Work Permit.

Questions
1. There is an overlap of three months between her WHV and Study Permit. Her WHV allows her to work full time while the Study Permit is only for 20 hours per week. Within the three months, which status will apply for her? The WHV or Study Permit or both?

2. We will submit our application mid August 2018 and her Study Permit will end mid September. How long will it take before she can get an Open Work Permit?

3. Is it true that she would be entitled to stay after her Study Permit expires even though we have not received her Work Permit?

4. In average, how much would it cost to pay an immigration firm to process our application?

I would be glad to provide more information if needed, please do not hesitate to ask.

In advance I would like to thank anyone who can share their answers and provide advice.

Cheers to 2018!

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2. It will take probably approx. 4 months to get OWP approval
3. It is not true. Your girlfriend has keep herself in status till the OWP approval
4. For a straightforward case, it usually will cost you $1,200 - $1,500 CAD from a paid legal consultant (licensed, but not a lawyer), and $3,000-$5,000CAD from a licensed immigration lawyer.

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2. & 3. We plan to get her a visitor visa when her Study Permit expires. The visitor visa should provide 6 months of extension. Her OWP must have arrived by then.

4. I am pretty confident about doing the application process ourselves but we do realize that even professionals commit mistakes and we are not experts on this field. Additionally, this application is our one way ticket so we do not have to do the tough long distance relationship anymore. We will definately move forward having a licensed consultant to do our case.

We would consider any recommemdation to which consultants we should aproach here in BC.

First, please allow me to express my thanks and gratitude to everybody in this very helpful online community.

I plan to sponsor my girlfriend via Inland Common Law in mid August 2018. I am already a citizen in BC and this will be my first time to sponsor. Fortunately, there are no issues on my side as a sponsor but I do have concerns about my girlfriend's status.

From Japan, she came to Canada mid May 2017 to stay with a 1 Year Working Holiday Visa (WHV). Our cohabitation started mid August of 2017. Mid March 2018 she will be taking a 6 months course that would allow her to Study and Work part-time by getting a 6 Months Study Permit through the school. Along with the Sponsorship application, we also plan for her to get an Open Work Permit.

Questions
1. There is an overlap of three months between her WHV and Study Permit. Her WHV allows her to work full time while the Study Permit is only for 20 hours per week. Within the three months, which status will apply for her? The WHV or Study Permit or both?

2. We will submit our application mid August 2018 and her Study Permit will end mid September. How long will it take before she can get an Open Work Permit?

3. Is it true that she would be entitled to stay after her Study Permit expires even though we have not received her Work Permit?

4. In average, how much would it cost to pay an immigration firm to process our application?

I would be glad to provide more information if needed, please do not hesitate to ask.

In advance I would like to thank anyone who can share their answers and provide advice.

Cheers to 2018!

Click to expand...

1 - She needs to apply for some new status (either visitor or student) before her WHV expires. As long as she's applied for some new type of visa/status, she will be in impliedstatus (as a visitor) so can stay legally in Canada. Of course she will need to stop working as soon as the WHV expires.
2 - Typically 3-4 months from applying for PR/OWP together. Expect getting all required docs and putting together the application will take a bit longer than expected, so may not be able to apply immediately after reaching the 12 months to become common-law.
3 - Yes (answer above is not correct). As long as she's submitted OWP app together with INLAND PR app, that gives her implied status to stay legally in Canada while waiting for the OWP to arrive.
Some people also choose to extend their visitor status, just in case there was an error and the OWP app was returned, they will not go out of status. But this is entirely optional.
4 - Totally depends, as you get what you pay for. But we have seen countless cases of people paying a fortune to lawyers, and having them badly screw up their apps or difficult to communicate with them once app is submitted. HIGHLY recommend you save the money and do it yourself, asking questions as needed to this forum.
Consultants/lawyers should only be used when you have criminality or other serious issues, or you are completely incapable to follow guides and fill out forms on your own.